Enhanced Energy-Saving Mechanisms in TSCH Networks for the IIoT: the PRIL Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces and evaluates strategies to improve energy efficiency in TSCH networks for IIoT by addressing acknowledgment frame loss issues, using simulation to analyze their effectiveness under various conditions.

Contribution

It proposes and analyzes strategies for maintaining link coherence in PRIL mechanisms despite acknowledgment frame losses in TSCH networks.

Findings

Different strategies perform variably depending on conditions.

No single solution is optimal for all scenarios.

Simulation results guide strategy selection based on operating environment.

Abstract

Lifetime of motes in wireless sensor networks can be enlarged by decreasing the energy spent for communication. Approaches like time slotted channel hopping pursue this goal by performing frame exchanges according to a predefined schedule, which helps reducing the duty cycle. Unfortunately, whenever the receiving radio interface is active but nobody in the network is transmitting, idle listening occurs. If the traffic pattern is known in advance, as in the relevant case of periodic sensing, proactive reduction of idle listening (PRIL) noticeably lowers energy waste by disabling receivers when no frames are expected for them. Optimal PRIL operation demands that, at any time, the transmitter and receiver sides of a link have a coherent view of its state (either enabled or disabled). However, this is not ensured in the presence of acknowledgment frame losses. This paper presents and analyzes some strategies to cope with such events. An extensive experimental campaign has been carried out through discrete event simulation to determine what consequences above errors may have from both a functional and performance viewpoint. Results show that, although no strategy is optimal in all circumstances, different solutions can be profitably adopted depending on the specific operating conditions.